Track Listing

1. Fireworks (Feu D'artifice), fantasy for orchestra, Op. 4
2. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Introduction
3. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:The Enchanted Garden of kastchei
4. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Appearance of the Firebird, Pursued by Prince Ivan
5. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Dance of the Firebird
6. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Capture of the Firebird by Prince Ivan
7. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Supplication of the Firebird
8. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Appearance of the 13 Enchanted Princesses
9. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:The Princesses' Game with the Golden Apples
10. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Sudden Appearance of Prince Ivan
11. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Khorovad (Round Dance) of the Princesses
12. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Daybreak
13. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:magic Carillon, Appearance of Kastchei's Monster Guardia
14. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Arrival of Kastchei the Immortal
15. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Dialogue of Kastchei and Prince ivan
16. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Intercession of the Princess
17. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Appearance of the Firebird
18. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Dance of Kastchei's Retinue, Enchanted by the Firebird
19. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Infernal Dance of All Kastchei's Subjects
20. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Lullaby (Firebird)
21. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Kastchei's Awakening
22. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau I.:Kastchei's Death; Profound Darkness
23. L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet in 2 scenes for orchestra: Tableau II.:Disappearance of Kastchei's Palace and Magical Creation
24. Tango, for chamber orchestra
25. Scherzo � la Russe, for orchestra
26. Chant du rossignol (Song of the Nightingale), symphonic poem for orchestra: Presto
27. Chant du rossignol (Song of the Nightingale), symphonic poem for orchestra: Chinese March
28. Chant du rossignol (Song of the Nightingale), symphonic poem for orchestra: Song of the Nightingale
29. Chant du rossignol (Song of the Nightingale), symphonic poem for orchestra: The Mechanical Nightingale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147562 in Music
• Released on: 1991-02-08
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Antal Dorati was a veteran ballet conductor and a personal friend of Stravinsky. His recording of The Firebird was a legend in its own time, and its reappearance on CD, sounding better than ever, immediately reestablished its supremacy. All of Stravinsky's complete ballets--as opposed to the suites-- have "dead spots," moments when the music sort of stops and lurches about, illustrating something happening onstage. That's why the composer made the suites in the first place. However, many of his most fascinating orchestral ideas occur precisely in these "dead spots," which is why many conductors and audiences prefer the works complete. Trust Dorati: he's the most reliable guide to this music, and his orchestra gives him a virtuoso response. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

Unsurpassed.
There is only one word to describe Dorati's recording of The Firebird, definitive. No one before or since has managed to combine the delicate almost impressionist passages of the score with the violence of the infernal dance to such tremendous effect. Stravinsky's ground breaking score is treated with all the sensitivity and respect that it demands, yet Dorati never seems overwhelmed by it as many other interpreters seem to be, the conductors grip on the music is palpable, but this never prevents the music from breathing freely. Much has been made of the sound quality of the CD issue, for me this was never a problem. I listened to this CD on my Musical Fidelity CD Player fed through Conrad-Johnson amplifcation to Sonus Faber Speakers or Grado headphones. This system is very revealing of poor sound quality and I honestly felt that the Performance venue (Walthamstow Town Hall outside London) was very well captured, although their was some hardness to the upper midrange, compared to my original SR-1 Mercury LP pressing (Played on a Linn LP12), that is to be expected with CD's, it's a fault of the format rather than Bob Fine's recording or Wilma Cosart Fine's remastering. I'm just left to wonder what an SACD version would sound like. Over to you Wilma :)

Extraordinary performance
This one is a must-have !! Dorati signed here an all-times classic ! For those who don't like Stravinsky, I can only recommend to rediscover his music with this CD. The famed transparency of Stravinsky's music appears here in Cinemascope. And all the pieces are a pleasure to listen to. A treasurable recording.

And contrarily to the bashing done below, this remastering, directly from the original Ampex tape recorder, through the original Wetrex amps, without any compression (probably the "terrible mixing" the guy talks about), sounds INCREDIBLY dynamic and transparent (although there is some tape hiss at the beginning). Probably this guy doesn't know that the dynamics of the original tape is far superior to the 96 dB of a CD. In this remastering, the engineers decided not to use any compression, and the result is nothing short of exceptionnal in naturalness and dynamics. But to benefit from the high quality of this sound, one must own excellent hifi components. In fact, it's one of my test discs for hifi component's evaluation.

As Magical as the Fairy Tale
One of the first ballet scores that Stravinsky did, it is and always will be a classic. It completely epitomizes the Russian tale of a prince who comes across an enchanted garden, recieves help from a beautiful bird, and saves a princess from the evil sorcorer Kachei. This particular album is wonderful because it has the full score which includes my favourite song,The dance of the Princesses. You must own this if you love classical or neo-classical music.